Alea Iacta Est
by WinterCactus
Summary: When an unknown magical force wipes out everything which Nanoha and her friends know, they must struggle to survive on a desolated Earth without any way to contact the TSAB. For Arisa and Suzuka, they are caught in the crossfire in a world which they do not belong. For Nanoha and Fate, it is not just about survival, but also about finding the mysterious force.
1. Exile I: Nanoha

**Foreword: Eyyyy so I had this idea while working on one of my other stories. This is the companion story of sorts. It's post-A's but I basically threw the canon out the window with several things. In a nutshell, here's what I changed:**

 **\- Hayate goes to Midchilda immediately after A's instead of finishing high school.**

 **\- The characters are all 14, just to match up with my PMMM side of this story.**

 **\- I have no idea where Uminari is so I'm just going to make it a neighbouring city to Tokyo.**

 **That's it (I hope). There's probably some that I missed off the top of my head though. I have yet to decide whether to include Hayate and the Wolkenritter into the story, but if I do, they still won't show up for a while. Enjoy! Oh, this will probably be darker than most of Lyrical Nanoha stories based on what I've seen so far, but I guess that's what happens with PMMM writers :D**

 **Also I don't own any of the characters. Please don't sue me ._.**

* * *

 _A heavy magical signature filled the air, dropping the temperature by several degrees. I had no time to even talk to Fate about what that meant when the entire room flipped upside down. Or maybe sideways. I don't know. Books, papers, pencils, and all sorts of other things flew around in the classroom, and I had a mild sense of vertigo as everyone in the room tumbled towards the wall. The windows shattered, creating a deadly rain of glass. Vaguely, I heard screaming but the magic in the air muffled it. A tap on my shoulder._

" _Nanoha!" a voice yelled. I looked over and saw the burgundy eyes of my partner Fate. Her lips moved and I struggled to hear her words above the vicious gale._

" _Look outside!" she yelled. I looked, and wish I hadn't._

 _Debris swirled in the air amidst storm clouds, and the classroom was_ in the air _. Droplets of blood covered the room, blood belonging to those who had been hit with glass. I turn back to Fate, and we nodded. Glancing around quickly to make double check that everyone was unconscious, which they were at this point, we pulled out our Devices. Me, a red bead; Fate, a yellow triangular disk._

" _Raising Heart, now would be a good time!" I scream, only slightly panicking. Slightly. The Device obliged me with a flash, conjuring my barrier jacket. Fate floated (flew?) over to me._

" _We have to get everyone down on the ground! We're way high up right now! Bardiche, how many do we need to get?"_

 _The yellow triangle on the back of her hand flashed, then said, "Twenty-eight, sir. Fourteen round trips between the two of you."_

 _Arms wrapped around my neck and purple hair whipped into my face in the wind. It was Suzuka. I look over and find the dark blonde hair of Arisa tangling with Fate's lighter blonde as our two friends held onto us for dear life._

" _Nanoha-chan! Why can't you be normalll?!" Suzuka screamed into my ear. I decided it wasn't a good time to grace that with an answer._

" _Fate-chan, we can take two each this time and make thirteen round trips instead. Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, hold on tight!"_

 _As one, Fate and I each grab a random body and fly out the window, casting a barrier in front to blast out the last of the glass, flying towards the ground. All the while, Arisa and Suzuka screamed at the top of their lungs non stop, until we touched the ground. They collapsed in a heap, and Arisa gave me a look._

" _Nanoha, Fate," she said, as calmly as she could. "It's been five years, and I still can't get used to this kind of stuff. Five years._ Five _._ Years. _"_

 _She spoke of the Book of Darkness incident five years ago, when she and Suzuka had been caught in the crossfire._

" _Not the time, Arisa!" Fate yelled, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me around to look where she had been looking. My jaw dropped._

 _In the sky were countless skyscrapers being thrown at various parts of the city. In the centre was a giant...something. It had gears spinning on the top of it and what looked like curtains surrounding it. Before I could get a better look, though, it vanished. A shockwave washed through the city from where it vanished, tearing up everything in its way. The floating buildings fell, smashing onto the ground; the school was one of them. Several explosions rocked the area, knocking the four of us to the ground._

 _The smoke cleared as we stood and stared out at the city. Fires engulfed large swathes of land, smoke and dust floated up in the air. Not a single undamaged building could be seen. The city was in ruins. Not even the Book of Darkness was this destructive. A ringing filled the area and we all looked around. Then, Suzuka gasped and took out her cell phone, flipping it open and answering._

" _Mom?...uh huh? Is dad with you?...Yea, I'm okay but it looks ba-...hello?...mom?...mom!"_

 _A loud crash could be heard through the cell phone, then Suzuka closed the phone, still as a statue._

" _S-Suzuka-chan?"_

 _She looks me in the eye, desperation showing._

" _Nanoha-chan, can you take me to Tokyo? You can fly, right? And Tokyo's right next to Uminari. I think… I think what happened just now is happening there."_

* * *

Tokyo was in ruins before we arrived, the giant lumbering beast in the air already gone. Suzuka guided us to her parents' company. It was completely collapsed, and despite searching for hours, we found no sign of her parents. She drops to her knees, and cries. Arisa attempts to comfort her, and I take Fate a few metres away.

"Fate-chan, can you try and get into contact with Lindy-san or Chrono-kun? Or _someone_? I think we may have found a Lost Logia"

She nods, walking off to send a message through Bardiche. I look back at Arisa and Suzuka, meeting the former's gaze. She shakes her head, then bends down and looks through the latter's phone, pressing some buttons. A ringing sounds quietly from beneath the rubble of the building. Suzuka only cries harder. Then, something clicks in my mind. I haven't checked on my family yet!

 _Fate-chan, sorry! I need to go,_ I say to her telepathically, breaking into a sprint before flying back towards Uminari.

 _Got it. I'll bring Arisa and Suzuka back when they're ready,_ came the reply.

By the time she finishes that sentence, I'm already a quarter of the way to Uminari. The sky was completely grey, and lightning crackled in the clouds above. I pushed more magic into my flying, edging out every bit of speed I could manage. Finally, I landed outside my house. Or rather, the pile of bricks that was left. I found no one, so I took off running towards the bakery, dispelling my barrier jacket as I did so.

A few blocks from where the bakery should be, a panel of wood with the words Midori-ya lay. I ran faster, struggling to catch my breath. When I arrived, I retched. The metallic smell of blood filled my nose. Somehow, the bakery didn't completely collapse, the rubble instead forming a small pyramid-shaped ruin. The front door was scrunched up, and I struggled to push the door aside, revealing what was left of the bakery. Bread was scattered all over the floor, but I ignored that. What caught my eye were the four bodies strewn inside, each in a pool of blood. My parents. My brother Kyōya. My sister Miyuki. All dead. The smell of blood repulsed me, but I stepped inside shakily, and stared. I don't know how long I stayed standing there in the doorway, but eventually, footsteps broke me out of my trance. I don't look. I don't need to.

"Nanoha… We should go… There's nothing you can do for them," Fate said. I wipe away tears that I hadn't noticed until she stepped in.

"Let me bury them."

I leave no room for argument. Arisa and Suzuka are outside, and they stare at me as I drag Kyōya out of the bakery, draping his arm over my shoulder and trudging down the road towards the garden of our house. No one says a word. I look back and to my surprise, Arisa, Suzuka, and Fate are each carrying a body. I hold back my tears and continue walking. Eventually, we reach the house. I prop Kyōya against the pile of rubble, then dig around the remains of the shed to pull out a shovel.

The digging takes all night, but I manage to bury all four. A hand placed itself on my shoulder, and the burgundy eyes of Fate met my own. I was not alone.

* * *

"Nanoha."

"Hmm?" I ask noncommittally.

"I can't get through to anyone. I think whatever that thing was has jammed any communication that our Devices can do. It doesn't help that the TSAB doesn't normally keep an eye on Earth."

"So we're on our own?"

"It seems that way."

We lapse into silence again. It's been three days since everything had happened. Suzuka wasn't handling the loss very well, and to be fair, neither was I. Arisa was less worried since her family was in Europe, but she was still worried. After all, there was no guarantee that that _thing_ didn't lay waste elsewhere either. Several scans by Bardiche and Raising Heart revealed that Japan was almost completely destroyed. I shuddered. The Book of Darkness had been scary, but even that couldn't lay waste to an entire city as fast as what attacked us had, let alone a country.

"Having Hayate around would be nice. She always knows what to do. At least she's safe on Midchilda."

"Look on the bright side, Nanoha. She'll notice something's wrong when we don't send her a message after a while."

Fate wasn't wrong, but there was still the issue of whatever had attacked Uminari. It was gone, but who knew if it would come back? Could anyone even beat that thing? Currently, we were camped out inside what was left of Midori-ya. Luckily, the underground room where the oven was had survived unscathed, so we used that. Three days, and the only people we've seen have been stragglers. We didn't trust anyone outside of our group. People were bound to be hostile eventually, unless help showed up. A lot of time was spent sitting around, trying to tune into radio waves with our Devices and listening for news. All of it was talk about Japan's plight, and nothing about help being sent from other countries. We'd have to move soon. There wasn't that much food around, and it was a shame we couldn't just create food out of nothing with magic.

Then there was the matter of Arisa and Suzuka. Fate and I had never talked about it after the incident, but that time when Arisa and Suzuka had been caught inside the Book of Darkness barrier, it told both of us one thing: those two had Linker Cores. Decently powerful ones too, Fate had discovered when she had Bardiche scan them. Not quite as much as the two of us yet, but still above the average TSAB officer.

Laughter from across the room caught the attention of me and Fate. Arisa stared at us smugly while Suzuka was laughing for the first time since she found the fate of her parents. We walked over to them. I was about to ask Arisa what she had told Suzuka, but Fate spoke first.

"Arisa. Suzuka. We're going to have to move soon. Uminari isn't a big enough city that we can find enough food in for a long time. We might head closer to the coast," Fate told the two non-magical girls.

"We can't get into contact with anyone, so it might be a while before we get any help," I added, referring to the TSAB and any potential help they could've brought us.

Neither of them raised any objections. It was at this moment, staring at their expressions, that I realised they were scared. Fate and I could defend ourselves but the most fighting either of them has ever done was when Arisa had bullied Suzuka in elementary school. I smiled at them in what I hoped was a comforting expression. I was supposed to be the cheerful one in the group, after all.

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine!" I said optimistically. They didn't look convinced entirely, but they did seem to relax more than they have in the past few days. Everything _would_ be fine, right…? I wasn't so sure.

The next morning, we left Uminari.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Yea, so that happened. If you guys enjoyed it (or if you didn't), please let me know what you thought in the reviews. Thanks! :D**


	2. Exile II: Fate

**I don't own any characters :(**

* * *

To say I was worried about Nanoha was an understatement. She did her best to put on a mask for Alisa and Suzuka, but she didn't fool me. I knew exactly how she felt, having lost family myself. We had left Uminari this morning, and we didn't really know where to go besides north toward the coast. Maybe some organised group along the coast had survived. At the very least, the ocean would be a good place to get food and water, if nothing else. The four of us were still clad in our school uniforms, though we did manage to each salvage some spare clothes from what was left of our homes. The familiar triangular form of Bardiche rested in my pocket, silently waiting for when it would be needed.

As we walked along the deserted roads, we could see abandoned cars all around, some of them emitting smoke. Everything was eerily quiet. It was as if everything had died. There were no birds, no squirrels, no insects. We occasionally saw ruins of buildings or bodies which Arisa and Suzuka cringed at. Cars were abandoned along the road where we travelled, some crushed, others not. Withered grass gave way to our steps, still completely silent. It was as if the earth itself had died after, and perhaps to, what had struck Uminari. The sky was consistently grey, with lightning occasionally crackling overhead.

Nobody talked. Despite being able to laugh at whatever Arisa had said to her three days ago, Suzuka was still grieving for her parents. Nanoha had moved on somewhat; having been able to bury her family had given her a sense of closure. I think Arisa and I both realised it, and we both gave the other two some space as we trudged along the broken pavement towards the coast. There was a coast south of Uminari that was close by, but we decided to head north from Tokyo since the northern coast would be closer to other countries. Part of me hoped Nanoha and I would be able to handle the thing that had destroyed the country. Part of me hoped we didn't ever see that monstrosity again.

In front of me, Nanoha stopped abruptly, causing me to bump into her. The acrid smell of blood filled the air, a smell I hadn't noticed before. I covered my nose, grimacing at the stench. Arisa and Suzuka did the same, but Nanoha stood completely still. I walked up beside her and took in what she was looking at. It was carnage. There were bodies everywhere, blood gathering in pools. Some of the corpses had parts missing or severed. Behind me, I could hear Suzuka retching at the sight. What really worries me was…

I don't know if it was something I saw in the corner of my eyes or pure instinct, but I dove at Arisa, knocking her to the ground. A bullet whizzed over my head just as we both landed. Arisa stared at me, wide-eyed. Additional gunshots rang out, and I heard a cry of pain belonging to Suzuka. Before I have a chance to say anything, Nanoha is by the purple-haired girl's side, pulling her up all the while shouting at me.

"Fate-chan! Get Arisa-chan and run!"

The adrenaline fills my veins, and I comply, hauling my fellow blonde on her feet and sprinting. A sharp pain erupts in my leg, but it is quickly dulled. I can sense Bardiche itching to be used, but this wasn't a magical enemy. I made the mistake of looking back. There were about dozen people aiming guns at us, firing. None were automatic, but a hail of bullets still filled the air around us. To my right, Nanoha was carrying Suzuka, who was clutching her side. Blood seeped through her fingers. She had been _shot_. I was pretty sure we were doomed. This was a flat open field, with nowhere to hide. To make matters worse, there was another group of people up ahead, and it didn't take a genius to figure out they were holding firearms as well.

They weren't firing at us, but they did see us. We hesitated for only a moment. Between two groups with guns, I'd take my chances with the group _not_ shooting at us. As we got closer, one of them made a hand motion signalling us to get down. I dive to the ground, pulling Arisa with me. Beside me, a thump tells me that Nanoha and Suzuka also complied. The group in front of us took aim and fired, spraying our pursuers with lead. After a while, they stopped firing and walked over to us. The one who had been motioning us to drop to the ground spoke.

"Are you four alright?" he asks.

"We're fine," I say, gesturing to me and Arisa. I point at Suzuka. "She's been hit."

He looks me over, his eyes resting on my eyes longer than I was comfortable with. Without looking at his companions, he does a motion with his left hand. Based on how the other strangers reacted, he was probably their leader.

"You're definitely not okay. They got your leg, look. I have no idea how you ran with that kind of wound."

Nanoha stands, moving aside for one of the strangers who was holding medical supplies and walking over to me. Suzuka lay a few metres away from where I was, eyes shut, breathing quickly. Arisa stares down at her with a worried light in her eyes. A sudden surge of pain in my leg nearly makes me scream, and I bite my lip at the last second to stay quiet. When I look, one of our rescuers is staring at my leg, holding a cotton pad that was soaked red. Their leader catches me looking, and explains.

"Disinfectant. The bullet went through your leg, so it's not in there anymore, but we wouldn't want anything infecting the wounds. You won't be able to walk well for at least a few weeks."

It made sense. It also made sense that they were doing the same with Suzuka, as the screams filled the air beside me. I winced as the screaming turned into screeching, and watched as Arisa had to help hold Suzuka in place and prevent her from thrashing. The world slowly grows dark for me, and the screaming grows faint.

'Must be the blood loss' is all I can think before the darkness consumes me.

* * *

 _The whip cracks down again. I don't even have the strength to cry out. My mother is screaming something incoherent at me, but her voice does not reach me through the haze of pain. Again, and again. And again. I'm delirious, I recognise that much. The torment continues for what feels like hours, but eventually, I find myself on the ground. Arf is there one moment. The next, she's gone. The Garden fades to black. The darkness lingers for brief moments before suddenly, the whip lashes at me once more. This time, I find it in myself to scream._

 _I hear my name being called. It wasn't my mother's voice. It was...Who was it?_

The world slowly comes into focus for me, the light blinding my eyes. As my eyes adjust to the brightness, I see Arisa kneeling at my side. I'm lying down on the ground. She stared at me with a look of concern.

"Fate? Same dream?" she asks. I hesitate before shaking my head in denial. She sighs.

"You were screaming, Fate."

I didn't want to talk about this, so I change the subject.

"Where are we?"

"Some abandoned medical clinic that the group who saved us uses. You've been out for about half a day. Nanoha's been worried sick."

She gestures to the brunette in question, who was fast asleep sitting against the wall. I look around. To my right lay Suzuka. Arisa sucks in a breath when my gaze lingers on Suzuka too long. That's when I notice two small metal objects coated in blood at her side. I move to stand, but Arisa pushes me back down.

"Nuh uh. You're not going anywhere with that leg," she chides. "Nanoha will have my head if I don't stop you."

When she mentioned my leg, the bullet wound began throbbing as if to remind me that it was there. Seeing that I wasn't in a position to argue, I concede the point. Satisfied, she stops pushing me downward.

"How's Suzuka?" I ask, staring at the blank white ceiling. In the corner of my eye, I see Arisa's face contort into a scowl. Not good.

"Not good," she says, echoing my thoughts. "A bullet in her side and one in her chest. They say she might not wake up again."

Hands are clenched into shaking fists. I begin contemplating my options for escape. However, I am spared Arisa's wrath for at least a while as a knock comes from the door. A voice belonging to the leader of our rescuers calls out.

"Is everybody decent? I'd like to talk," he says through the door. I look at Arisa.

"Go wake Nanoha up," I tell her. Then, turning to the door, I respond. "We're all good, come in!"

The door opens with a clack. I get a better look at the person who saved us. He couldn't be more than twenty-five, though in his eyes I recognise a bit of what I see in my own eyes in a mirror. Pain, and indescribable suffering. Loss. He hides this behind a mask of cheerfulness. Nanoha walks back over with Arisa.

"We haven't introduced ourselves, have we? I'm Takamachi Nanoha," she says cheerfully. She does not see the man's mask, mistaking it for a cheerfulness equal to her own.

"Arisa Bannings. That's Tsukimura Suzuka over there."

All eyes turn to me.

"Fate Testarossa. Thank you for helping us," I say. I don't fully trust this man, even if he did save us. He smiles, and something tells me he notices my distrust. He lingers on my eyes, likely noting the same thing I had noted about him.

"My name is-," he begins, only to be interrupted by a hail of gunfire from another part of the building.

"...unimportant, it seems," he finishes, drawing two pistols from the bag he had slung over his shoulder. He tosses one to me, confirming my suspicion that he recognised the loss in my eyes.

"I hope you know how to use that thing," he says to me, running into the hallway. I follow, leaving a telepathic message to Nanoha to keep the others safe.

The man leads me through a plethora of twists and turns, hallway after hallway. Towards the sound of gunfire. I glance down at the gun he's given me. I know vaguely how these things work, having spent the last five years on Earth. I just hoped I wouldn't make a mistake. My leg feels like it's being shoved into a grinder, but I ignore the pain as best I can. We enter what I guessed was the main hall. Desks were overturned, facing the door to the outside. I could see dozens of people hiding behind the desks, popping out occasionally to fire at an unseen enemy. I hazarded a guess that it was the same group who had chased us before. A prickly feeling came at my leg, and I looked down to see a thin stream of blood flowing from my bullet wound. Great.

We joined the rest of the defenders behind the row of desks. Ammunition was scattered all over the ground, bullets of various sizes. A box is set down beside me. It's filled with extra bullets

"You'll need these. Be careful, they have stronger guns than what you're using," a voice says to me. I nod without looking, loading the gun. My hands are shaking. Could I shoot to kill? After how Nanoha had gone through so much to pull me out of my misery before?

I shake off my misgivings. I'm doing this for Nanoha, and Arisa, and Suzuka. I clear my mind.

No doubt.

No guilt.

No fear.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Yea, so I realised that last chapter I forgot to mention this. This story is a companion to In Saecula Saeculorum which is the Madoka Magica side of the story. Anyway, there will be a sequel to this and the Madoka side, and the sequel will be a crossover. Otherwise, there will only be slight nods to Madoka Magica in this story. As usual, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! :D**

 **On a more serious note, a member of a band I am part of has passed away. I won't name him out of respect to his family, but I'd like to take this opportunity to remember him. Rest in peace, mate.**


	3. Exile III: Arisa

**I don't own any characters :(**

* * *

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't. I felt so damn useless. Suzuka was already wounded, and now Fate had gone off like some hero to fight against whoever was attacking the building. A desperate need to be the one protecting the group pervaded my thoughts. It was folly, seeing as how Nanoha and Fate have much more experience with fighting but it didn't make me feel any less useless.

Suzuka lay right where she has been the entire time. On the ground, torso wrapped in bandages and dried blood all over her school uniform, which Nanoha and I had changed her out of. Still, the residual blood marred her usually serene appearance. It was a sight which I could barely bring myself to look at. How long have I known her and Nanoha now? We had met in first grade and now we were midway through eighth grade, which meant seven years. Seven years, and not once have we been in different classes. Even after Fate joined us in third grade, she was also always in the same class. Yet, deep down, I knew I was more upset about Suzuka ending up like this than I would if it were Nanoha and Fate. I'd still be extremely worried, but Suzuka made me worry more.

I should've been able to protect her back then. Instead, I had to be saved by Fate. I knelt, gripping Suzuka's hand with my own. Her hand was warm, a reassurance that she was still alive. A brief one, as the gunfire from down the hall picked up in intensity again. Nanoha and I stayed silent. There was nothing to say, at least until the familiar blonde hair suddenly appeared in the room again, accompanied by someone else; not the same person who was with us earlier.

"We're getting overrun. Let's get the four of you out of here," he says curtly. Something in me flared, and I pull Fate off to one side.

"Are we seriously just running away?" I whisper, furious. I don't even understand why I'm angry.

"We don't have a choice, Arisa. There's not enough of us to survive a battle of attrition against them," Fate shot back. She looked a little worse for wear, visibly shaken and breathing heavily.

"I refuse. These people _saved_ us! How can we just walk away from this, especially if they're losing?"

Fate was beginning to get angry and I wondered if I had overstepped a boundary, but I had committed to this already.

"It's either they die and we get away, or we all die, Arisa. Which would you prefer?"

"How about we fight back and less of us die?"

"I told you, there's too many attackers to-"

"Fine. You and Nanoha go. Take Suzuka. I'll stay and help buy time."

I begin to walk back to the door towards the firefight. Fate yells after me, but I was set. Her words did not reach me.

"Don't be an idiot, Arisa! You being there won't make a difference!"

I ignore her, instead turning to face the man in the room.

"They'll escape," I say. "I'll stay and fight with you."

He looks at me, scrutinising me. It was absurd, wasn't it? A pampered fourteen-year-old girl from a rich family, someone who always had what she wanted, using a gun. I walk down the endless hallways with the stranger. He stops abruptly in the middle, forcing me to turn and look at him questioningly.

"How old are you?" he asks, beginning to walk again at a slower pace.

"Fourteen. Why?"

Closed eyes and a smile, but no response. He takes off his vest and hands it to me. It's bulletproof. Then, we turn a corner to see several overturned tables. A gunshot lodged itself in his head, killing him instantly.

* * *

I was a fool. For insisting on fighting. For insisting on being the one to stay and buy time. I must have been in shock, because an arm grabbed me by the hand and pulled me behind one of the tables. It was the one Fate had initially left with.

"What are you doing here?"

I blink, taking a moment to push away the bile that was gathering at the sight of the corpse, with a thin trail of blood flowing out of a small round hole in the head.

"My friends are going to get away. I'm going to help buy time for them."

He sucks in a breath. All along the overturned tables were about a dozen men, taking turns taking potshots at the unseen enemy. He chooses not to say anything else to me, instead peeking over the top of the table to take a shot. He ducks back down as several bullets fly overhead. The hall is dark, and I can barely see my own hands, but I look around. A long, black rifle lay beside another corpse nearby. I pick it up.

I vaguely knew how these things worked. Vaguely. Fumbling around with the gun, I managed to detach the ammunition box. It was loaded, and I push it back in. The copper tang of blood was thick in the air, filling my nose and mouth. At this point, screams began registering in my mind as two people to my right dropped backwards, either wounded or dead. My heart pounded in my chest, threatening to explode.

' _Come on, Arisa. This is what you wanted, right? The chance to be the hero, to be the one protecting your friends. Don't back out now.'_

A persistent voice plagued what little bits of my mind were still working. Taking a deep breath, I stand up, pulling the trigger. The gun kicks upwards and I'm pretty sure I put more lead into the ceiling than towards the attackers' general direction. The loud klaxon of the rifle fills my ears, replaced by incessant ringing and a quiet clicking when it runs out of bullets. A sharp pain appears in my left shoulder, sending my flying backwards. I'm lying, facing the dark ceiling, breathless. Darkness seeps into the edge of my vision, but Fate's image takes up the remaining view.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" I manage to gasp, sitting up.

"Stopping you from getting yourself killed."

She sounded calm, but I found myself shivering. It was the "we are going to have a serious talk later" kind of calm, and this was when I realised I actually did overstep a boundary with the argument earlier. She picks up the rifle I had been using, reloading it and firing with a lot more ease than I had. I pick up another gun, but without looking at me, Fate stops me.

"Put that down. Just pass me ammunition when I run out. You're not firing another gun."

My previous anger dissipated, and I meekly complied. This was a reminder that she had legitimate fighting experience. She betrayed no fear or uncertainty in her voice or actions. Something bothered me, however. Something nagging at the back of my mind, through a haze of adrenaline.

"Fate. Where's Nanoha?"

The last thing before a blinding pink light fills the hall is the grin on Fate's face. I can hear Fate shout just loud enough for the defenders to hear: "Everybody duck!"

The light bursts brighter, and soon the hall is nothing but pink light.

* * *

"Was that really necessary, Nanoha?"

The brunette in question laughs nervously, scratching her head. We were quite a distance away from where we had been fighting. Nanoha had used her magic to knock out all of the attackers. Before the light had even faded, I felt an arm grabbing me and dragging me away from the tables we had been hiding behind. My eyes adjusted to find Nanoha dragging me along, with Fate carrying Suzuka. Before Nanoha could answer me, though, Fate rounded up on me.

"Don't even start, Arisa! We wouldn't have had to do that and flee if _someone_ hadn't run off trying to be a hero. What if you had been shot? What if you _died_?"

"I-"

I wanted to point out that I HAD been shot, just that the vest had protected me, but Fate wasn't done with her tirade.

"What the hell were you thinking? That you'd somehow escape and catch up with us later?"

"I-"

"What would we tell Suzuka?!"

That was it. She did NOT just use Suzuka as an arguing point. The sound of my palm hitting her face seemed to echo through the field we were in. But that didn't register with me right now.

"Don't you dare bring Suzuka into this. Don't. You. Dare."

The wind picked up, displaying the same agitation Fate and I felt. We stared at each other, eyes filled to the brim with anger. Hers, for Nanoha; mine, for Suzuka. Suzuka was piggybacked on Nanoha, who looked back and forth nervously between the two of us. The silence hung in the air like a wind chime, only that the wind chime didn't ring. It was broken, just like we all were on the inside even if we didn't admit it. I knew we shouldn't be arguing after everything had been torn away from us, but I refuse to let Fate use Suzuka as argument leverage.

Suzuka was above that. Suzuka was _our friend_. Suzuka was perfect; she shouldn't have to be degraded into verbal ammunition. I wouldn't let that happen. A second slap sounded, and my head jerked to the left. I turned back and saw a cold fury in Fate's burgundy eyes that I hadn't thought possible of the blonde. Inadvertently, I took a step back at the sight. She seemed to radiate malice as suddenly I find myself being lifted off the ground by the collar.

"You listen to me, Arisa Bannings," she begins, enunciating each word slowly and clearly. "No more playing the hero. If you ever do something stupid again; if you want to die that badly again, then I will end you myself. Don't you dare do anything that risks Nanoha's safety."

I nodded meekly, all the fight having deflated out of me. A fear of an intensity I've never felt before gripped me. I'm thrown backwards, stumbling a bit. Fate is storming off. Nanoha looks at me apologetically.

"Are you okay, Arisa-chan?"

"Y-yea. It's fine...it's fine."

We begin walking behind Fate. No one thought to question where we were heading, and we simply followed wherever Fate's anger was taking us. A while later, I insisted on being the one to carry Suzuka. The silence lingers after that, and the sun sets quickly. There is no time to enjoy the view. Fate is still in possession of the rifle, which was slung over her shoulder, along with a pouch that presumably held extra ammunition. I felt kind of bad that we did end up leaving the group which had saved us, but I guess it couldn't be helped since Nanoha had saved them by using her magic.

Fate's limp became more and more obvious over time. Eventually, we had to stop since her injury couldn't handle any more walking. To my surprise, we were in a city now. I hadn't noticed when we entered partly because I was still angry at Fate, but also since we had planned to head toward the coast rather than any cities. The destruction of the city was massive. Only a few buildings stayed standing, and even fewer were more than three floors tall. Occasionally, we saw other people wandering around the city in small groups or alone. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that everyone would leave everyone else alone. Once, we saw a white cat scurry around atop a mound of rubble. We stopped for the night in an abandoned building. Or at least, Fate and Nanoha did.

* * *

I stood on the outskirts of the city, Fate's words echoing in my head. She had been right. I had put all of us in danger. But, now I knew why I had been angry back then. Suzuka wouldn't have wanted to ditch our rescuers either.

"Sorry," I whisper, even though I knew Fate couldn't hear me from across the city. Then, adjusting Suzuka, who was on my back, I turn around and walk toward the orange of the rising sun.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Phew! This is actually the fourth time I've written this chapter since it's hard for me to write Arisa due to the lack of screen time she and Suzuka get in the anime. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter, since personally I'm still on the fence about how I wrote this one. I'm also gonna be too busy to work on more chapters since I have exams coming up. While I'm here though, I wanna take a few moments to address some things that people have pointed out to me with regards to the story and respond to their reviews. Here goes :D**

 **[]**

 **Christopher Yagami:**

-Unfortunately not. I've never actually watched any Fate/ stuff, so that isn't really a possibility for me.

 **Kuro-tan(guest):**

-About the teleportation - yes, Fate is capable of probably teleporting herself between the Garden and the Earth, but I personally feel like she wouldn't do that in this context because she would be forced to leave the others behind, and there likely isn't an inhabited planet close enough to Earth that she can teleport to.

-About Arf - Arf's whereabouts will come into the story later on, but for the most part she won't play a major part in this story.

-About the healing - I was not aware that Nanoha or Fate knew any healing magic, and after skimming through Nanoha, A's, and StrikerS again, I couldn't really find any indication that they can do healing magic.

-About Nanoha and Fate's reluctance to use magic - The two aren't very keen to use it because they don't want to risk being found out. They aren't aware (yet) for certain that the destruction goes beyond Japan. Also, in this story they haven't joined the TSAB yet and were only planning to after finishing high school, so neither of them have much training or problem-solving experience.

 **FateT.H.7:**

-I'm glad that you're eager for more! It's not exactly a crossover, but it does have a few small nods to Madoka Magica since it is happening at the same time as In Saecula Saeculorum. Other than the vague description of Walpurgis in chapter 1, there won't be many more references since this is going to be a Nanoha-focused story.

 **shiiro01:**

-Here you go :P


	4. Update

**So, I figured it was about time I rose from the figurative dead and put out at least an update on where I am in regards to this story for the people who followed this.**

 **As I mentioned briefly in the first chapter, this is a side story of sorts to In Saecula Saeculorum, a Madoka Magica story that I had been working on. I had a plan before to slowly merge the two into a crossover sequel but whatever I had planned, I've probably forgotten most of it. This one kind of grinded to a halt alongside the Madoka side of the story. At the time, I figured that I'd take a week, maybe two, to kind of mentally reset myself and get my thoughts in order.** **Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out as university really began dragging me down and family issues became persistent. I began to worry about my future prospects, since being a history student didn't exactly open a lot of options. Long story short, I sank into depression for a while and only recently have I started pulling my life back together.**

 **Anyways, I'm aiming to get some of my stuff on this site rolling again. Partly because I'm hoping that doing so will remind me of how much fun I used to have writing and partly because neglecting these stories stresses me out. See you soon! :)**


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